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France - LED screen manufacturer Lighthouse Technologies has appointed a new sales manager for France. A fluent French speaker, Janez Zigon lived in Paris for a number of years and has a thorough knowledge of the country's display technology market.

Working closely with Roberto Segato, Lighthouse's director of the CEME region, Zigon has worked for the company since February 2009 covering the East European regions.

"Janez has exceptional knowledge, both of our products and of the market in France," says Segato. "His appointment is a very positive step for our European operations, demonstrating the many benefits of using Lighthouse LED products to our current and potential French clients."

Zigon adds, "Being appointed Lighthouse's sales manager for Franc

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UK - Optocore's newly developed compact fibre line system, OptoRack, will debut on the Leona Lewis world tour, beginning in May, after a joint development with Wigwam's rental division to produce a new data returns system.

The newly developed system provides a flexible solution to the restrictions which many hire/production companies are finding with Cat 5 cable systems.

According to Wigwam Hire director Chris Hill, using complicated extender units to cover distances over 100m is totally impractical and requires their field engineers to become IT network specialists. At the same time he criticised the inadequacies of RJ 45 fixed connectors when exposed to both festival and touring conditions as well as the extended prep time now required with so many digital manufacturers supporting their own proprietary platforms and connector protocols.

Using Optocore's new modular R serve

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USA - Backline rental and entertainment services operator SIR (Studio Equipment Rentals) recently added an Electro-Voice XLD line array loudspeaker system to the pro audio inventory at their New York office.

The system comprises 16 XLD281 full-range elements and four Xsubs, all powered by six Tour Grade TG7 amplifiers equipped with RCM-26 DSP modules for IRIS-Net remote control and supervision.

"Our XLD system will typically be used to address one to two thousand people in rooms of various shapes and sizes," says Baker Lee, audio production manager at SIR New York, "so flexibility was a main consideration, along with size and sound quality. We invested in a range of accessories - dollies, fly bars, ground-stack kits, etc. - so we can fly, stack or lift the arrays securely, whatever the venue, and achieve consistently excellent results."

SIR's new system m

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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 - People taking part in The Sainsbury's Sport Relief Mile were left in no doubt that they had arrived thanks to Sunbaba's site branding which included a massive 925m² of PVC and Ultramesh, 570m² of Correx and 30 Knitted Polyester Flags for client Limelight Sports.

The Sunbaba team worked with Limelight Sports to produce the functional signage and gantry branding across the 16 headline cities in England and Northern Ireland.

The branding included start and finish line arches created using PVC panels. Eight of the 16 cities were supplied with PVC panels that were welded together to create double sided banners where the gantry acted as a frame. In other instances single sided panels were used as a gantry wrap.

Directional signage highlighting the running route, VIP areas, water distribution and recycling points were created using Correx. This is a lightweight, robust and w

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Denmark - Eighteen months ago, DPA Microphones unveiled its 4099 clip mic range, which has proved to be a success with musicians worldwide. The range has now been expanded with two new additions: the 4099B and 4099C, with mounting accessories designed specifically for bass and cello respectively.

Since the launch of the first four models, DPA has carried out intensive experiments with other instruments. One of the areas where superior sound quality and high rejection are an issue is acoustic bass, so a new holder has been designed for that instrument. Bass players such as Rufus Reid, Chris Minh Doky and John Patitucci were already 4099 users before the launch of the new bass clip. Minh Doky was so confident he'd found the ultimate mic he took a deep breath and drilled a hole into the bridge, creating a permanent mounting solution. With the new bass clip, such drastic measures ar

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USA - Technomad Associates reports that Simi Valley Hospital, one of 17 hospitals operated by Adventist Health in the western United States, is using two Technomad Schedulon automatic MP3 players for scheduled and on-demand playback of audio files in multiple locations of the hospital.

Located in Simi Valley, California, Simi Valley Hospital is a 201-bed acute care facility. The Schedulon provides dual-functionality for the hospital, essentially acting as two devices in a single 1RU system: a sophisticated, networked, scheduled-audio player that plays sounds on a user-defined schedule; and a simple, on-demand audio file player that acts as a rugged, rackmount iPod with sounds 'hard-assigned' to knob positions for quick-predictable access.

At Simi Valley Hospital, both units are used to deliver music and announcements to various locations at specific times, including the main e

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Germany - A high power, weatherised and digitally networked Renkus-Heinz PA system has been installed for west German football club Alemannia Aachen at its New Tivoli stadium in Aachen.

The stadium's architects were tasked with retaining the ambience of the club's old ground, especially its reputation for crowd noise. The tall, steep stands are close to the pitch, and the low suspended steel roof with a 3m glass lip was also designed to boost noise levels. Bundesliga regulations permit both seated and standing spectators, with 11,681 of the 32,900 total capacity standing on terraces 80 rows high behind each goal.

Stephan van der Kooi, project manager for stadium owner and operator Alemannia, comments, "The old Tivoli was a very English kind of soccer stadium, and it was known for the loudness of its crowd, and we wanted to retain that feeling."

System IT and commun

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Frankfurt Postscript - Organisers of Musikmesse and ProLight&Sound 2010 report satisfactory attendance figures. "With around 2,340 exhibitors, 62 percent of them from outside Germany, and almost 110,000 visitors from 128 countries, Musikmesse and ProLight&Sound exceeded our expectations," said Detlef Braun, Member of the Board of Management of Messe Frankfurt. "Moreover", he added, "the number of exhibitors and visitors remained stable in comparison to last year despite some dramatic drops in sales of up to 30 percent in both sectors over the last 18 months." Overall, the impact of the difficult economic situation in the two sectors was limited to minor declines in the number of exhibitors and visitors compared to 2009 (2,388 exhibitors, 112.478 visitors).

In line with the difficult economic situation prevailing in both sectors, which has hit the ex

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UK - Point Source Productions supplied lighting, smoke and haze effects, cabling and power distribution to La Clique at the Roundhouse during its successful 10 week run over Christmas 2009 and New Year 2010.

Dubbed by The Sunday Times as 'the best selling show of all time' for pre-bookings at Camden's Roundhouse, La Clique's style is a mixture of outlandish variety, burlesque and circus entertainment which has been described in reviews as both 'a walk on the wild side' and 'a divinely decadent delight.'

Point Source Productions was called upon by Dan Watkins of The Production Desk and freelance Production Electrician, Jono Kenyon to provide additional equipment which would facilitate the very specific look of Willie Suddon's lighting design.

Kenyon and Watkins had collaborated on La Clique's 2008 production at the Hippodrome from where, despite its succe

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UK - Hawthorn will be exhibiting at PLASA Focus once again this year. Alan Jackson, head of installations at Hawthorns, will be on the stand this year to discuss ServiceSafe, Hawthorn's new testing and servicing division, launched earlier this month.

Hawthorn's MD, Martin Hawthorn, will also be at the show and commented, "Last year's show was well organised and extremely well attended, a credit to PLASA, so much so that we re-booked our stand on site. It's ideally placed for us with our Midlands based head office and we got some good leads. This year we're showcasing Media Surge, our new LED video cloth, which has proved a big hit with both the corporate and the film & TV markets, as well as our dry hire customers."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Tower Productions were recently approached by the Scottish Rugby Union to provide lighting, staging, rigging and production power for a memorial service for Bill McLaren - 'the voice of rugby' - staged on the pitch at Murrayfield.

With a fairly open design brief, Tower's James Mitchelmore and Pete Donald covered lighting design, and rigging respectively.

A Prolyte MPT system provided the stage cover with Prolyte S52 being used from the stadium roof some 40m off the deck, for lighting and PA hangs. Two dozen 2500w city colours formed the basis of the stadium lighting with 100no. assorted P64 doing detail and effect work.

Robe CS700s hung from the grandstand provided keylight for marching bands and break-up patterns on the track. Stage lighting was largely generic comprising 2k fresnels and S4 profiles and pars. Movement was by Robe 250 colourwashes.

The Tower power tea

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UK / USA - SpotTrack, the new software tool for making and managing followspot cue sheets, has found favour with a number of high profile shows since its launch last autumn.

In London, Love Never Dies, the long-awaited sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber's international hit musical The Phantom of the Opera, is using SpotTrack to manage its followspot cue sheets. The show is lit by Paule Constable, with the spots overseen by her associate lighting designer Beky Stoddart. Stoddart is also using SpotTrack on the new production of Oliver!, also lit by Paule Constable, at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and associate lighting designer Nick Simmons is using it to manage the followspots on the new UK tour of Les Misérables, again designed by the busy Constable.

The new West End production of Legally Blonde, lit by Kenneth Posner and Paul Miller,

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UK - Perched high on the cliffs overlooking one of the UK's best known seaside resorts, Southend's Cliffs Pavilion Theatre has been kitted out with new Electro-Voice sound reinforcement systems by TED AV, commissioned by venue owner and operator HQ Theatres.

Its sister venue in Southend, the smaller Palace Theatre, went all EV a couple of years ago, and with close collaboration and resource-sharing between the two houses, there were considerable advantages in staying with the brand and with supplier Shuttlesound.

The Cliffs Pavilion is a receiving house, seating over 1,600 for a theatrical production, but with flexible set-up arrangements enabling 2,500 to be accommodated for live gigs. As one of the premier division of regional theatre venues, Cliffs Pavilion has to balance the needs of touring bands bringing in their own systems with the needs of visiting theatre productions

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Austria - Danish opera singer Rick Heis has recorded an SACD, Caught In Paradise, using DPA microphones. The session, at the Jugendstiltheater in Heis's adopted home of Vienna, saw six DPA 4011 cardioid mics being used for stereo recordings. Two were used for Heis' vocals, two for his guitar amp and two for bass player Georg Straka, a member of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, a pair of DPA 4006 omnidirectional mics were used for a stereo recording of pianist Michael Rot's Steinway model B.

After many years of singing and playing guitar, Heis made the discovery that he was a baritone, not a tenor as a music teacher had told him. This discovery revitalized his musical career and Caught In Paradise, which so far has been released in Austria on the local label Gerimi Classics, has come from this renaissance.

"I've been using DPA microphones for y

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USA - A new audio system at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Bend, Oregon, features JBL Professional PD Series loudspeakers. Morgan Sound of Lynwood, Washington was responsible for the acoustic consulting and design and, using its past experience with the PD Series as the deciding factor in the choice of speakers, teamed with Anderson Group International of Eugene, Oregon for the installation.

The installation at the St. Francis of Assisi Church initially presented many challenges to the team. It's a very large space with polished concrete floors, CMU walls and granite and marble covering the substantial altar platform, all of which work together to create a very reverberant room. There was a desire to maximize the presentation of sound without filling the entire auditorium with large, overbearing speakers, which is why Morgan Sound president Charlie Morgan ultimately chose the J

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USA - Saginaw Church of Christ has brought Community Professional Loudspeakers' Veris system into the fold. As part of a long-awaited audio upgrade, the church has installed a system comprising two Veris 3294W 12-inch three-way loudspeakers. A pair of Veris 28W dual 8-inch systems provide side-fill.

Dan Ristow of Fort Worth-base Heavenly Sound and Video comments, "Saginaw Church of Christ is a vocal-only church, so warmth and articulation in spoken word was a fundamental objective in designing their system. "We've worked with the Veris system in the past, and were particularly impressed with its performance on spoken word. The difference was clear, even in a side-by-side comparison with another more expensive loudspeaker."

The sanctuary's architecture presented some acoustical challenges as well. "The room has a high ceiling, with a rear entrance wall const

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UK - Black Light is moving to a new location as of 5 April. The new premises, only 1km for its current premises, will allow for the continued growth of Black Light, with additional warehouse and extended office space.

The new address details are: West Shore Trading Estate, West Shore Road, Granton, Edinburgh. EH5 1QF. All other contact details will remain the same.

(Jim Evans)

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Germany - At its ever-expanding annual distributor dinner in Frankfurt, which coincides with the ProLight+Sound Expo, Nexo celebrated the emerging markets around the world.

The Awards are marked not by a gold statuette but, this year, by a miniature RS18 subbass unit. They are assigned by sales director Denis Baudier for outstanding progress and success in developing a market for Nexo technology, and in 2009/2010, there were some surprises in store.

Winner of the Nexo Distributor of the Year Award was Sonotec from Peru. This young company from Lima, just 10 years old, has amassed an impressive blue-chip distribution portfolio and is also achieving great success as a rental service company. Jesus Aguilar from Sonotec was pleased to collect his award in front of the whole Nexo international distribution network.

The award for Best New Distributor went to Malaysia's Audio Solut

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Germany - At ProLight&Sound 2010 sound Projects presented its latest addition to the DreamLine series: the BassLine, a self-powered mid/bass system for the touring and installation markets. The BassLine is tuned to augment the DreamLine in the low end and has the same distinguished appearance.

The BassLine's housing is identical to the DreamLine - a 2.2m high line-array cabinet. The proprietary Angle Adapter rigging hardware is also the same. This gives the BassLine the same convenient rigging benefits as the DreamLine; single point suspension at almost any theatre batten lift and easy horizontal aiming in steps of 10 degrees of the complete array.

The BassLine is suitable for large auditoria, medium sized concerts-halls and dance events. Flying one or two BassLines next to a DreamLine system instead of flying a sub system above the line-array, results in far less reflection a

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Italy / Australia - Link announced during last week's ProLight&Sound exhibition in Frankfurt that it has executed a licence agreement with Australian company Audinate to implement Dante in Link's DGlink Stage Box system. Audinate's Dante solution provides a no-hassle, self-configuring, plug-and-play digital audio network that uses standard Internet Protocols. Dante is a scalable solution that works on both 100Mbits and 1Gigabit Ethernet. Additionally, Audinate offers a Dante Virtual Soundcard - a software solution that turns a PC or Mac into a Dante-enabled device.

"The addition of Dante significantly enhances the audio transport capabilities of our system while making it more flexible," stated Marco Piromalli, president of Link. "We look forward to debuting a system at InfoComm10 in Las Vegas this June."

DGlink; is the first multi-protocol enabled modular

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UK - Adlib supplied sound, lighting and an international crew including a Spanish speaker for flamenco dancer Sara Baras at London's Royal Albert Hall.

Adlib's Tony Szabo (Australia) led the sound team, which consisted of Hassane Siahi (France), Otto Kroyman (Germany), Scouser Marc Peers and Carlos Herreros from Spain, who also acted as interpreter.

Along with the lighting crew led by Andy Rowe they worked to a tight deadline, with a 1.30 a.m. load in on the day of the first show.

The stage space was divided between a large dancefloor downstage, a catwalk upstage, and the band in between. The band and catwalk were sandwiched between a white cyc with a black gauze hung immediately in front of it and another black gauze in front of them, so they could be made to appear and disappear with lighting.

Baras' production brought the custom dancefloor with them, into which were int

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