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UK - Redburn Transfer, one of the leading players in the specialist market of music transport Logistics, has recently announced a mutual merger with the giant transportation and container firm, Deben Transport. With a family history in haulage dating back nearly 140 years and an enviable reputation within the music industry for the last 28, what motivated the MD Chris Redburn to make this move?

"This summer I was forced to turn down contracts from existing clients embarking on major touring productions,' explained Redburn. "We just couldn't cope with the amount of work being offered to us and I was not prepared to just sub-contract work and risk not delivering the quality of service that I believe is synonymous with our name and reputation. I realised that we needed to e

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Europe - Lighting and video designer Derek Jones specified a Jands Vista S3 console to provide lighting, IMAG and video control for the 2009 / 2010 Cliff Richard & The Shadows international tour. The sold-out tour recently completed shows at major UK and European arenas, and re-commences in February for a series of dates in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

When Jones discussed the choice of control console with UK and European tour lighting supplier, Lite Alternative, they suggested the Jands Vista S3. Having jumped between using many other consoles, Jones thought it would be a good opportunity to experience for himself the Vista's graphical based approach to programming. On the strength of trying the free Vista demo software and then using the S3 for a one-off corporate show, he purchased a console to use for the tour.

Jones comments, "I felt very comfortable usi

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UK - Support for the campaign and coverage has been increasing over the past few weeks. The campaign is now at a critical stage and needs the support of the wider industry and indeed the general public. The campaign is calling on all those affected to write to their MP and ask them to sign Early Day Motion number 323, called Save Our Sound UK campaign. "We intend to make this as easy as possible. Therefore, we have uploaded draft letters on the website that you can either e-mail or post to your MP once it has been appropriately personalised," says John Steven.

Last week, Peter Luff MP tabled a Motion in the House of Commons. This has already been signed by several supportive MPs, including two Select Committee chairmen. The Motion calls upon the Government to provide a compensation package that covers all fifteen spectrum channels being cleared, and at levels th

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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 - In an effort to bring Meyer Sound even closer to the Scandinavian market, Meyer Sound Germany has announced the appointment of Klaus Hansen as business development representative, Scandinavia, serving the expanding customer base in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland.

Prior to joining Meyer Sound, Hansen was in the sales force for several renowned Scandinavian rental and installation companies, and founded Copenhagen Sound Production in 1995. He is the sound engineer for The Olson Brothers, a winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2000, and the systems engineer at the annual Roskilde Festival."I am excited to join Meyer Sound," states Hansen. "Meyer Sound's loudspeaker products and new digital audio technologies have a lot of potential in the Scandinavian AV market and my priority is to work closely with the customers here on ways we can help with thei

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Finland - The new musical production Play Me opened its doors for the first time in September at the Swedish Theatre in Helsinki, Finland, for which lighting designer, Mikki Kunttu specified a grandMA full-size to run the lighting. Kunttu also programmed the show and designed the set and video elements.

"The grandMA was simply the only way to go with a project of this complexity," said Kunttu, "With a moving light rig, media server control, MIDI and SMPTE synchronisation, plus multiple parallel cue lists, there was no other brand that could deliver the same speed of creative working.

"The design is based on the extensive use of video surfaces as set pieces", continues Kunttu, "The video content and lighting go hand-in-hand. I consider the 3D space of the stage as one, where all these elements play together creating something vivid and excit

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Finland - Operated by the Viking Line, the 37,860 ton MS Mariella has sailed on the Helsinki to Stockholm route, carrying 2447 passengers for over 20 years. The Mariella was built as a luxury cruise ferry in 1985 and at the time of its launch was the largest car ferry in the world. With capacity for 430 cars and air conditioned cabins for up to 2500 passengers, the ship offers a full range of restaurants, bars, entertainment, conference facilities and duty free shopping.

After a major refit in 2006, the ship's Cabaret and 'Fun Club' Disco have been re-equipped this year with the latest sound and lighting system. Controlled by the merged outputs of a Hog 1000 and a Zero 88 Jester, the system uses 36 MultiSpots for both stage and dance floor lighting making full use of their 'honeycomb lens' focussing system and rugged steel construction. Replacement of the previous

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USA - American Music & Sound (AM&S) has been appointed USA distributor for beyerdynamic pro audio products including the company's wide offering of wired and wireless microphones, headphones, and broadcast related products, effective 1 January 2010.

"This is a momentous occasion for AM&S," comments Lynn Martin, president of American Music & Sound. "With more than 85 years experience manufacturing the world's best microphones and pro audio products, beyerdynamic is an incredible fit with our other live sound product lines, and we are looking forward to expanding their penetration in the US. Together with beyerdynamic, we are now able to offer the finest transducer-to-transducer live sound solutions in the United States."

Additionally, Paul Froula has been appointed national sales manager for American Music & Sound. Froula, an industry veteran, has managed va

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Italy / UK - Kasabian's current tour is taking the UK by storm with Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300 fixtures. The tour supports their latest Pink Floyd-influenced album, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, which reached number one in the UK top 40 charts this past June. In October, the album won Best Album award at the 2009 Q Awards and is also nominated for iTunes Best Album 2009.

Kasabian has participated in a number of prestigious performances including the Teenage Cancer Trust performance at the Royal Albert Hall, MTV World Stage Live In Malaysia and at Glastonbury Festival 2009, opening for Bruce Springsteen, as his special guests.

Lighting designer Nick Gray of Renegade Design used 32 Alpha Beam 300 fixtures as the main workhorses for the rig. The set featured a LED border creating a picture frame effect around the stage, with the Alpha Beams in clusters overhead an

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UK - Stage Electrics has created an audio, video and lighting installation for the Medway Campus of Mid Kent College, the heart of a new £86m purpose-built educational facility for the Medway Towns. It hosts National Diploma pathways in musical theatre, acting, dance, and a two-year, Level 3 Production Arts course.

With a brief to deliver maximum flexibility and professional-standard systems, Stage Electrics' project team, headed by business development manager Darren Beckley, specified and installed a complete technical package including a central theatre, a television studio, two radio studios and a recording studio. The glass walled theatre, originally intended as a performance pavilion, is required to accommodate the full gamut of productions, from concerts, musicals and drama to presentations and commercial hire, with staging either in traverse or in-the-round.

The

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UK - Dolby Laboratories and Barco announced report that the Empire Leicester Square showed the world premiere of the James Cameron movie Avatar on Thursday, 10 December 10, using the Dolby 3D solution for large screens.

"Empire Leicester Square boasts one of the largest screens in the UK, which is why it regularly plays host to world premieres," said Julian Pinn, business development manager, Production Services Group, Dolby Laboratories. "Avatar promises to deliver state-of-the-art 3D special effects to audiences around the world. To ensure every seat in Empire Leicester Square enjoyed the fully immersing 3D experience, Dolby Production Services worked with Barco, Empire, and Twentieth Century Fox to ensure the best combination of brightness, image sharpness, and colour accuracy to display this spectacular new movie as director James Cameron intended."

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The Netherlands - Swiss digital signage hardware manufacturer, SpinetiX will showcase their HMP100 Hyper Media Player in a variety of digital signage configurations at Integrated Systems Europe 2010 in February, 2010 at the Amsterdam RAI.

As part of the InfoComm Education programme, Serge Konter, marketing manager at SpinetiX will present Digital Signage - an exploration of embedded systems versus PC based solutions for use in digital signage networks which will take place on 4 February 2010.

Serge Konter, marketing manager says: "At SpinetiX, we pride ourselves in offering open-standards hardware for digital signage applications and ISE is the ideal opportunity for the European professional audio community to view our enhanced SpinetiX HMP100Hyper Media Player, which offers a cost effective, dedicated and stand alone alternative to traditional PC-based distribute

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USA - Taking advantage of the power of Crown's I-Tech HD series amplifiers and flexibility of the Studer Vista 5SR console, California-based Sound Image deployed 80 I-Tech HD amplifiers and a Studer Vista 5SR for use on country music star Taylor Swift's tour throughout North America.

The 2009 tour, which included 52 concerts, sold out within minutes, prompting a second leg of the tour to be added for 2010. Sound Image's FOH engineer on the Taylor Swift tour, Russell Fischer, stated, "The goal was to bring Taylor Swift's brand of country pop music to life, and to get the show's energy and feeling across to an already excited crowd."

According to Fischer, Sound Image chose the Vista 5SR for its audio quality and versatile control surface. "The audio quality is the most obvious advantage over other digital consoles," stated Fischer. "Being able to do six

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UK - Richard Martin Lighting (RML) supplied the lighting and crew once again to this year's 30th fundraising Children In Need appeal show filmed live at BBC Television Centre (TVC).

The outstanding efforts of all those that took part raised donations of over £20 million, which is used to fund projects helping our disadvantaged young people of Great Britain.

Lighting designer Dave Gibson of the BBC was called up once again to light this extravaganza show, and chose seasoned programmer Andy Dobbs as his automated lighting operator. RML have been supplying CIN for the past 8 years working alongside many of our talented UK TV lighting designers. Dave has been the lighting director on Children In Need for the last four years.

There were four separate areas that required lighting within TVC, the lobby area had PixelPar 90s, MAC 500s with the newly design

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Germany - 2009 has seen the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall celebrated in the German capital, culminating on 9 November with a Festival of Freedom at the Brandenburg Gate. With thousands of Berliners wanting to join in and watch speeches by some of the world's leading politicians, Lighthouse LED screens played their part in relaying the celebrations to the vast crowds.

Wien-based Global Bright Media, supported by AVMS of Potsdam, supplied a total of nine Lighthouse LED screens, three of which were located at the Brandenburg Gate itself.

Each comprised 40sq.m of R7-ER panels to provide visual reinforcement for live music, speeches and a symbolic procession through the Gate by many of the world's top politicians, including German chancellor Angela Merkel, herself raised in the former East Germany.

Other events included a recorded video address by US pres

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USA - Production Resource Group, L.L.C. (PRG), a leading supplier of entertainment technology solutions headquartered in New York, has acquired Procon MultiMedia Aktiengesellschaft AG (Procon), a major Europe-based entertainment technology company.

PRG Chairman & CEO Jeremiah "Jere" Harris and Procon CEO Morten Carlsson jointly announced the acquisition, which was made by MHG Media Holdings (MHG), an indirect subsidiary of PRG.

PRG and Procon will continue to serve their current clients from their existing locations without interruptions. As of January 1, Procon will begin operating under the name Production Resource Group (PRG). Cinegate, Procon's film lighting and camera company, will continue to operate under its existing brand.

PRG's worldwide presence will extend into significant territories now served by Procon, including Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland

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UK - Fibre Optic Systems (FOS) have joined forces with Cheshire-based VME to provide the ever important lighting element to an installation at Altrincham's newest bar, Heart and Soul. The project went so well, the two companies have decided to embark on future sound and light projects together.

FOS supplied DIVAflex LED - RGB colour-changing flexible LED - which was installed by VME to run sound-to-light. DIVAflex also provides a strobing function which the bar uses as the atmosphere heats up later in the evening.

The lighting element, which highlights and accents the bar and seating areas to provide the elegant main lighting scheme, joined an initial sound-only installation completed by VME. This featured Kling & Freitag SONA5 compact installation speakers around the seating areas, coupled with Kling & Freitag SW112 compact sub woofers.

In the main room, a more powerful sys

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USA - The ETCP Council reports that paper and pencil test administrations are scheduled for 2010 at the USITT Conference and Stage Expo in Kansas City, MO and at InfoComm in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Many major venues and employers across North America are now requiring ETCP Certified Technicians for lead positions.

All three ETCP examinations will be offered at USITT in Kansas City, MO. The application deadline for this administration is 1 March 2010.

The Arena Rigging and the Entertainment Electrician examinations will be offered at InfoComm in Las Vegas, NV. The application deadline for this administration is 7 May 2010.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - The 15-date Snow Patrol Reworked tour of the UK and Ireland recreated songs from the band's 15-year career with a dual Midas XL8 system at front of house and monitors, provided by Britannia Row. As the shows featured six band members, 10 musicians and special guests, all 96 channels of each desk were full to capacity.

"The band wanted to create an organic reconstruction of their songs, so lots of different types of acoustic instruments are being used," said monitor engineer Tristan Farrow. We have up to 18 musicians on stage at one time, using a combination of in ear monitors and wedge mixes, hence my desk is full. All the inputs and outputs are being used, we even have to use the direct inputs and outputs for the vocal effects."

Farrow was making good use of the system's automation on this tour. "I've had to create a scene for every song," he sai

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UK - The Government has announced that Creative & Cultural Skills has been awarded a new licence to support the skills needs of the creative and cultural industries. This comes after a comprehensive relicensing process commissioned by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, with independent assessments carried out by the National Audit Office across all Sector Skills Councils.

Creative & Cultural Skills represents over 74,000 businesses across advertising, design, cultural heritage, craft, music, performing arts, visual arts and literature in the UK - a footprint of 678,000 in total. First licensed in 2005, the organisation was started from scratch by Tom Bewick and Tony Hall CBE, at the demand of key employers in the industry.

According to the NAO, employers and stakeholders said that Creative & Cultural Skills' "advocacy role had benefitted the sector, as it had ra

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USA - Pixled found the recent LDI show an ideal venue to introduce the product range to even more clients.

The LDI judging committee was impressed with Pixled's product line and awarded them Honorable Mention in the LDI2009: Debuting Product Award, Projection category for its PowerPix product. The DMX-compatible PowerPix are strings of high-power RGBW LED pixels. Its power scaling technology ensures that the RGBW pixel modules have a continuous light output of 5W. When configured as a single or dual colour pixel, the modules' light output even equals that of a 10W pixel.

"We would like to thank everyone who stopped by our booth at the LDI2009 show," says Norah de Bekker, sales and marketing for Pixled. "We had a lot of very interesting conversations as well as got to meet with a lot of potential clients and discuss how Pixled products could solve some of their c

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UK - The Hot Rats, a side project of British band, Supergrass, recently embarked on tour with a compact Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system to manage various live performances and media appearances.

The band comprises Supergrass members Gaz Coombes and Danny Goffey, who have teamed up with Radiohead producer, Nigel Godrich, to create an album of eclectic covers. The band's live performance is based around pre-programmed audio set to a click track, making IEMs a necessity.

Previously an analogue engineer, Gavin McComb set out to find a user-friendly and analogue-sounding digital alternative that is both compact and can manage both FOH and monitor mixing, selecting an iDR10 MixRack with iLive-80 Control Surface.

McComb explains, "The iDR10 houses the inputs and I am Y splitting everything internally in the desk so that I have separate FOH control for EQ and dynamics

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