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UAE - Spectacular airborne action was seen in the skies over Abu Dhabi on the weekend of 26-27 March as the Emirati capital hosted the Red Bull Air Race for its sixth consecutive year.

With 15 of the world's top race pilots battling for championship points, this race marked the start of the 2010 season. As a popular fixture on the Red Bull Air Race calendar since the World Championship officially began in 2005, Abu Dhabi's warm temperatures and changeable winds makes this race one of the most challenging in the schedule.

Creative Technology once again provided audio visual solutions to enhance the spectators' experience of the high altitude spectacular. Dutch event company, Faber Audiovisuals, asked CT to provide two screens to complete the array of AV equipment laid out for the

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USA - Justin Hayward, John Lodge and Graeme Edge, otherwise known as The Moody Blues, are in the midst of their The Day We Meet Again Tour. Tour manager Udo Wolf, tour Mark Hogue and lighting designer Mick Thornton use a system of MAC 2000 Spots and Washes combined with Chromabank LED strips, all run by an Avo Pearl.

Bandit San Francisco GM Dizzy Gosnell has worked with the Moodys team for years and assures their every need is met. He says, "Mark, Mick and I have a great relationship and we work together as a hand in glove. The Moodys and their staff are true gentlemen and make the business a real pleasure."

(Jim Evans)

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Nigeria - One of Nigeria's fastest growing churches, Daystar Christian Centre in Ikosi, Lagos, has upgraded its audio system to an Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system.

The installation was managed by Lagos-based rental and installation company, PF Syztems, who originally installed a 40-channel Allen & Heath ML3000 VCA console at FOH with a 40-channel GL4000 at monitor position when the church was first opened three years ago.

Increased attendance and a switch to four consecutive services, coupled with increased complexity in dealing with multiple stage requirements, prompted the 7-000 capacity church to enquire about possible ways to streamline worship services.

PF Syztems' engineer/consultant, Olushola Aremu, comments, "I recommend iLive desks to every FOH and monitor engineer. The iDR-48/iLive-T112 system is a great digital system to work with; it's user-friendl

featured content

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 - e:cue lighting control - An Osram company, has introduced the Lighting Control Engine (LCE), its high-performance lighting control server, which combines the interactivity of the previous Media Engine 2 and the optimum performance of the Lighting Control Server (LCS1).

Designed to control large and complex projects, the LCE is a high-performance server with the new e:cue Lighting Application Suite 5.2 installed. A central control unit, this versatile lighting control server orchestrates all devices and fixtures within a project.

With the ability to output DMX/RDM, e:net, and other protocols such as Art-Net and KiNET, and the capability to integrate various audio/video, external triggering, and other desired devices and content, the LCE can cope with the most demanding projects, says the company.

A built-in touch screen monitor housed on the front panel of the attractive

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UK - Orbital Sound reports that the Da-Cappo Micro Microphones range - distributed exclusively by Orbital in the UK - has won the Sound Product of the Year Award at the ABTT Theatre Show 2010. The award was granted on two counts - in recognition of the tiny 2.5mm diameter Da-Cappo capsule's sweat resistance, with its potential to save the significant on-going wastage of moisture-damaged microphones, together with the comfort and adjustability of the products' innovative ear-mounting system.

Chris Headlam, managing director of Orbital Sound, commented, "This Award is an excellent and well-deserved accolade for the Da-Cappo brand - won for the performer-comfort and security of its ear-loop, as well as its technical, moisture-resistant performance. It recognises the products' inherent financial benefits for theatres and production companies as, in this budget-challenged climat

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USA - Audio-Technica has recognized Roseville, California-based The Farm Technical Sales & Marketing as its Rep of the Year for the 2010 fiscal year. Marc Lee Shannon, Audio-Technica vice president, sales, and Tracy Brefka, Audio-Technica territory manager, professional products, presented the award to The Farm principal John Hood. The Farm sells Audio-Technica's complete line of professional audio products to sound contractors and retailers in Northern California.

Audio-Technica held the awards ceremony during this year's InfoComm Expo on 9 June in Las Vegas, Nevada, to honour its dedicated force of manufacturer's representatives. The A-T Rep of the Year recipient was congratulated for outstanding sales performance and bestowed with Audio-Technica's Samurai doll award. The Farm Technical Sales & Marketing was acknowledged for its consistent success in the areas of sales, market

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USA - Medtronic, a leading medical device company, wanted to communicate an innovative, sophisticated image to its target market of doctors and health care professionals at the recent Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) exhibition in Denver. Medtronic attended with a large, environmental booth that was focused on innovation yet featured an element of artistic sophistication and used an animated ceiling of Martin LC Series LED panels to get the message across.

"Every year, Medtronic likes to do something that is environmental and technology focused yet a little more art installation and less straight corporate branding - something that raises the intellectual component of the booth," says John Featherstone of lighting and visual design company Lightswitch.

Lightswitch consulted with long-time collaborator and exhibit producer Group Delphi on the booth's lighting design to crea

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Bahrain / UK - A Scottish company has scooped a top industry award for its innovative project to light up one of the world's most iconic modern buildings. Edinburgh-based lighting design specialists Lighting Design Partnership International (LDP International) won the accolade for its work in illuminating the Bahrain World Trade Centre - a striking 240m twin tower complex that dominates the Arabian Gulf.

LDP International was awarded first prize in the 'Best Use of Exterior Lighting' category at the PALME Middle East awards, which celebrates achievements in the categories of AV, audio technology and lighting design.

The towers were built in 2008 by the multi-national architectural firm Atkins. It is the first skyscraper in the world to integrate wind turbines into its design - the turbines produce up to 15% of the towers' electricity.

Douglas Hamilton, lead lighting designer

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UK - Following the success of her ITV2 sketch show Katy Brand's Big Ass Show, the eponymous comedienne has gone out on the road, performing a stage version in theatres and arts centres throughout the UK. A key part of the technical production is a package of Sennheiser microphones and wireless equipment.

The shows comprise songs and dance routines, as well as straight stand-up comedy. With everyone from the Queen to Amy Winehouse the butt of Brand's humour, the bottom line for the show's promoters Mick Perrin Productions (MPP) was that Brand's wide-ranging styles of delivery had to be crystal clear at every seat, despite the venues ranging widely in size and design.

Through previous tours, Sennheiser has built a successful and close working relationship with MPP and Sennheiser product has become a ubiquitous part of the production company's touring equipment.

For the

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Spain - Void Acoustics has made a major impact on the Ibizan club scene with new distributor, IbizaPA, completing two major installations in just six weeks. The controversial daytime club, DC-10, recently re-opened with a sizeable Void triple-horn Air Motion - installed for promoters Circo Loco in just nine days from order to completion. The new Sands Beach Restaurant is also home to a Void installation, featuring an all-white Air Ten system in the White Bar.

IbizaPA was established three years ago, building up a reputation for local events and installations. Recognising the potential of the Ibizan market, Void had been looking for a dynamic distributor for some time. Director Alex Skan explains, "Ibiza's club environment is very image-conscious and a perfect match for our brand's combination of eye-catching speaker design and excellent sound quality.

"We started wor

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USA - The Grand Lady of Market Street has been a landmark in Wilmington, Delaware, for nearly 140 years. Opened as the Grand Opera House in 1871, The Grand has led a colourful history, hosting operas and symphonies, vaudeville and burlesque, movies and live performances. In its early years, performers including Ethel Barrymore, Buffalo Bill Cody and John Philip Sousa graced its stage. For most of the 20th century the 1,208-seat hall operated as a movie theatre, eventually falling into disrepair and closing its doors in 1967.

After an extensive restoration, The Grand reopened as a live performance venue, and has become a nexus for the city's downtown revival. Along with the smaller 300-seat Baby Grand next door, the building hosts more than 300 events per year, ranging from symphony orchestras and ballets to rock and contemporary artists, comedy and performance art.

Like many t

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Sweden - The Stockholm Jazz Festival celebrated its 30th anniversary earlier this month, with performances by artists ranging from heavyweights of the genre like John Scofield, Wayne Shorter and Courtney Pine to those with broader appeal, including Elliot, Kool and the Gang and the Brand New Heavies. Bringing this remarkable variety of music to the Skeppsholmen island venue was an Alcons Audio system.

This was the first year that Bromma-based rental company Electrosound had provided the festival's audio system, as a part of the complete sound/light/stage production by Live Media Group. Designed by Electrosound's Brollan Söderström and LMG's Robert Karlsson, an Alcons LR16 rig overcame a significant lack of space without compromising on sound quality.

The festival features two parallel stages which flip flop between artists. The Alcons system featured three clusters, that on

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UK - Professional loudspeaker manufacturer Funktion One is incorporating a Prism Sound Orpheus FireWire computer interface into the Ambisonics rig it is using at this weekend's Glastonbury Festival in order to bring studio quality audio to sound playback.

Funktion One managing director Tony Andrews comments: "We avoid the use of electronic equalisation to correct for system anomalies, as we believe that it is better to engineer the problems out of the loudspeaker system in the first place, rather than to correct for them electronically. Otherwise you pay a price in terms of phase response and headroom. We also avoid compression drivers in the mid-range, to keep distortion to a minimum. Our loudspeaker systems have excellent directional control allowing sound to be focused where it's needed and minimising out-of-venue environmental impact."

The company's loudspeaker d

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UK - Sunpower's rugged new PLEC-035S035DT power supply provides up to 100 VDC output at 350 mA. Its constant current capability makes it suitable for driving large LED lighting arrays. This 35 W supply automatically delivers a consistent, optimum current into a series string of any length from 9 to 28 LED lamps. Parallel LED strings can also be added, subject to the total output current capacity of the power supply. LED brightness can be set by a dimming control using a potentiometer or 0 - 10 Vdc input signal, says the company.

The PLEC unit's input voltage range of 90 -305 Vac is suitable for use in US and worldwide industrial installations, including those using 277 Vac . Its high efficiency of up to 88%, high input power factor of up to 0.99 and potted interior allow cool running operation with a service life greater than normal products.

The PLEC-035S035DT is just one mem

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UK - Specialist manufacturers of plain & printed, tapes & labels, Le Mark Self-Adhesive has just re-supplied Birmingham based PRG Lighting with their PAL Road Case Labels.

"The PAL Road case labels are an essential part of our flight case management and distribution, being able to easily write on each case/label with the case contents, stage position, show dates and any other relevant information is a must," says PRG Lighting's Mark Gosling

" Plus the fact any information we write remains unaffected by water, bumps and scrapes is brilliant. We then clean the ink away with a special label wipe and they're ready to re-use for the next job. The Labels are i robust and last a considerable amount of time."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Matt Howell is the newest member of Audient's Hampshire-based sales team. Following UK sales manager, Gareth Williams' appointment, Howell joins Audient to take on the responsibility for Audient's worldwide marketing initiative.

A recent graduate from the Tonmeister course at the University of Surrey, Howell brings a firm understanding of the technical aspects of music recording to the company, along with experience in both new and established media marketing.

"Audient's range is abundant with fantastic products that we want to bring to the wider audience. I'm very excited about working with the team, as we look to provide a more sophisticated and interactive framework for current and new customers," says Howell.

(Jim Evans)

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UK - In Cardiff, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) has started to spend the equipment budget for its new £22.5m performance facility, and the first audio acquisition is an M-400 V-Mixing System complete with 32-way Digital Snake, supplied by Stage Electrics.

The extensive development project on the College's existing site in the grounds of Cardiff Castle is expected to complete early in 2011, but Ian Evans' technical studies team was eager to start using the new M-400 from the Roland Systems Group. The compact digital console is ultimately destined to be the front-of-house mixer for the new 160-seat Richard Burton Theatre, but first it will be deployed on everything from classroom training to summer balls, promenade theatre and live music.

"We're already used it in our black-box theatre, where Firenze Guidi has just directed her production of The

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UK - Systems Workshop Distribution has announced plans to open a new showroom facility at its Oswestry premises. The showroom will take over space formerly occupied by Forge Studio and aims to provide a dedicated area for dealer training and product evaluation.

Systems Workshop's current distribution portfolio includes Fohhn loudspeaker systems, Vicoustic acoustic solutions, Tube-Tech valve processors and Schertler contact microphones, amplifiers and guitars.

Managing director Phil Beaumont commemnts, "Our brands increasingly require dedicated demo space that dealers can visit for a true evaluation of their capabilities. For example, to fully appreciate products like Vicoustic's Wave Wood really means experiencing the panel installed in an actual listening space, where it has been specifically positioned to fit the acoustic requirements of the room.

"The same is tr

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Italy / UK - A North East audio company has made a major breakthrough into the Italian market with its equipment being installed in a major international sports stadium.

Sunderland-based Current Thinking has established a link with the Proel Group based in Sant'Omero, Italy - with the first project involving the upgrading of the facilities at the Stadio Adriatico in Pescara.

Current Thinking will be supplying Proel its advanced Voice alarm systems, sold under the Proel Brand ProEVAC 2.

Says Current Thinking managing director Anthony Smith, "We are very pleased to have established a relationship with the Proel Group, which is involved in supplying and installing audio, video and lighting equipment for major entertainment and sporting venues in many different countries.

"This is a good deal for both companies, Proel get some of the latest voice alarm equipment, and

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World - For a-ha fans the world over, 2010 marks their last opportunity to see the band perform together. a-ha's farewell tour, aptly named Ending On A High Note, will have covered four continents and 15 countries when it wraps up. The band's final three shows ever, slated for early December in their home-country of Norway, sold out within days of their October 2009 announcements, well over a year in advance.

The tour is travelling with a full complement of Sennheiser wired and wireless microphones, including a Sennheiser SKM 5200 with a Neumann KK 105 capsule for lead vocalist Morten Harket, as well as Sennheiser wireless personal monitors. Ready support from the Sennheiser Global Relations Team has mitigated many of the travails of the road for tour manager Kleo Tuemmler, FOH engineer Sherif El Barbari, and monitor engineer Kursten Smith.

"Morten is incredibly se

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UK - An early adopter of digital technology, Scouting For Girls' Front of House engineer Andy Williamson has been, up until now, a regular user of consoles by other manufacturers. However, at the start of the band's recent tour, which finished in Brighton at the end of May, audio rental company Capital Sound's Paul Timmins presented Andy with an opportunity to use a DiGiCo console.

"As soon as digital came out I jumped on it," says Williamson. "I love analogue, but the digital footprint is fantastic. However, you get used to certain characteristics of different consoles, with the result that I ended up using other manufacturers digital mixers.

"But then Paul offered me the chance to use an SD7. Having done a little research and read through the specs, I knew it was complete overkill for what I needed with regards to inputs and outputs, but the specs were so

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