UK - Lighting rental company HSL has invested heavily in the last three months in new lighting equipment to facilitate its continuing busy work schedule amidst what's so far been a bumper year for the Blackburn-based operation.

Over 60 Vari*Lite VL3000 and VL3500 Series moving light fixtures have been added to HSL's existing Vari*Lite inventory. The first job for these was as a dry hire to Gearhouse South Africa, boosting the numbers of Vari*Lites used on the Closing Ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg - for which Gearhouse supplied full technical production.

HSL has also purchased 20 of the new Avolites Power Cubes. This first batch will replace all HSL's small dimming systems, and their first shows will be for various C Venues spaces and th

USA - Four years ago, principles at Full Sail University commenced planning to create a multi-purpose, live performance venue. The award-winning school located in Winter Park Florida was created more than 30 years ago as a private learning hub catering to arts design and entertainment media. Over the past three decades, Full Sail has flourished to offer a broad spectrum of accredited, degree programmes encompassing music and sound, as well as film, design, show production, games, animation, web design, and music business.

After a year-plus of construction, Full Sail Live is finalised and slated to be one of the largest, dedicated sound stages for live concert training at an educational facility. Full Sail Live will serve numerous campus-wide events including live musical performances, monthly graduations, open house events, multi-visual presentations, guest lecture

UK - At stand 2-R32 at the PLASA 2010, J. R. Clancy and theatrical technology dealer Hoist UK will exhibit together in a partnership that offers the 'Best of All Worlds'.

This distribution and partnership agreement offers customers a complete project solution. Hoist UK can integrate products from each partner's expertise and equipment through a single dealer source. The result is a complete project solution, minimizing customers' need to select and manage many different suppliers.

"The Best of All Worlds partnership offered by Hoist UK gives customers the opportunity to find products from industry brand leaders that are seamlessly designed, conceived, manufactured and delivered with one call," said Tony Dickson at Hoist UK.

J. R. Clancy designs and manufactures off-the-shelf and custom automated and manual rigging systems, heat resistant borders, fire curtains and

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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

UK - Chaos Visual Productions has opened an office in London, led by Chaos' newest additions, managing director, Gary White and project director Alex Leinster, Chaos made their grand entry into the UK's concert scene with tours including Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston, Supertramp and Guns N Roses.

Chaos' London based operation offers full production support, including equipment inventory and technical support.

Former head of European sales for Total Fabrications, Gary White has a broad production background, ranging from theatre, to television, to corporate conferences, to touring and finally founding his own full technical production company, creating live events for blue chip clients.

White comments, "This is a major investment for the company. There is no doubt that the market in the UK and Europe continues to grow. All of the core skills I acquired in the entertainmen

UK - ETC's range of lighting, dimming and control products continues to expand and evolve with an impressive number of software and product updates on display at this year's PLASA show. The company's complete range of control desks will be available for demonstration, along with the PLASA Award winning Selador LED fixture line, Unison Paradigm building control system and SmartSolutions portable dimming.

Featuring the patented x7 Color System, the six different Selador LED models produce a light and colour quality that conventional LED systems cannot duplicate, says the company. The latest addition to the Selador range, which will be on show at PLASA, is Vivid Pearl, producing high output true whites from 3200oK and up and specifically suited for TV, alongside a new and improved Vivid-R, which now produces 50% more light than previous models - while consuming 10% less power.

In

UK - GDS will showcase the newest addition to the LiteWare range, LiteWare HO (High Output) at PLASA 2010. Following the success of LiteWare wireless RGB uplighter, launched in 2009, LiteWare HO is a high output version offering 80Watts of LED power. Designed to be completely compatible with the existing LiteWare range, the LiteWare HO product is the same footprint as the standard version and is calibrated to deliver colour-matched output.

Also at the show is the new TCP-IP CueSystem a Networked cue light system which launched at ProLight + Sound earlier in the year. In an industry first, with the ever-increasing trend towards completely networked show control and lighting systems, the TCP-IP CueSystem bridges the gap for stage management environments.

The TCP-IP CueSystem uses the established ergonomic control platform with standard GDS outstations. Output nodes are then used

UK - Lightfactor will feature the latest products from its raft of high profile international brands on a packed stand - including DTS, LDR and Novalight from Italy, LightProcessor and Cogent from the UK, SFAT from France and VXCO from Switzerland.

New from DTS is the XR3000 Spot moving light fixture which utilises the Philips 1200W fast-fit lamp and features full continuous pan/rotation among many other features. Also new from DTS is the FOS 100, a modular LED batten with 15 addressable lightsources, which can be racked up in multiples and used to display low resolution video content and graphics to great effect.

Another launch from DTS is the Delta 10 LED RGB wash unit. This comes in three variants : (a) with a selection of lenses, (b) with variable zoom lens control via DMX and (c) a moving fixture featuring DTS's patented FAR full pan and tilt rotation and remote zoom. All

UK - EAW is exhibiting its new QX Series loudspeakers at PLASA 2010, optimised for installed system applications that require precise directivity in a powerful low-profile form. Engineered and manufactured at EAW's Whitinsville, Massachusetts facility, the QX Series provides size-efficient yet very high output point source clusters. The series is particularly geared toward medium-to-large-sized spaces including sports arenas but is also designed for a wide range of other venues requiring high power and consistent coverage in a compact housing, including houses of worship, outdoor stadiums, performing arts venues, theatres and clubs.

The passive, wired-for-biamplification QX Series draws on the knowledge and engineering resources gained through the development of EAW's AX Series, maintaining its reputation of 'big horns in compact packages'. All full-range models have squared, sy

UK - PLASA 2010 will provide the first major public showcase for Ateis International's new integrated public address (PA) and voice alarm (VA) system, the IDA8. Combining digital audio signal processing, matrix control, message play-out and microphone capability, the unit is the latest and most advanced step in the development of Ateis' PA/VA products.

The IDA8 is based on the successful IDA4, which is well established in the market. Over the five years since IDA4 was launched, tens of thousands of units have been sold internationally. But technology and what users expect from equipment in the exacting PA/VA sector has changed, so work on a next generation version began 18 months ago, says the company.

With extended DSP memory and communications capability, the IDA8 is more technologically sophisticated than its predecessor but it is also easier to use and set up. Neil Voce, s

Germany / China - Kling & Freitag has confirmed the appointment of Shanghai MYC Technology Company as its exclusive distributor for mainland China, Macao and Hong Kong. With headquarters in Shanghai, MYC also has regional offices in Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

"MYC team has a solid competence technically as they often work with top artists and loudspeaker engineers in Asia. With the assistance from MYC, we will fully develop business in China and focus on both the installation and touring sectors," says Jürgen Freitag, managing director of Kling & Freitag.

"We had a lot of experience in the Chinese market and believe we can build a strong future with Kling & Freitag here," adds Jessie Chan, executive vice president of MYC Technology.

(Jim Evans)

USA / Europe - Crosby, Stills & Nash are mid-way through an extensive tour, which has taken in a wide variety of venues and festivals throughout the US and Europe. Front of House engineer Kevin Madigan is mixing with his DiGiCo D5.

"The D5 is my console of choice, I've been using DiGiCo for about five years and there's still no better digital console in my opinion," says Madigan. "I sometimes have to use other consoles on a one-off basis, but I always come back to my favourite because of its excellent sound quality and layout."

The tour is using a d&b J Line main system, with J-subs and B2s. Madigan sends left, right and sub outputs from the D5, from which sends for in, out and front fills are derived. All processing is done within the D5, except for Manley ELOP electro-optical limiters on vocal inserts and a Manley Variable Mu over the L-R outputs. "I

Slovenia / France Lighting manufacturer, Robert Juliat has added KSL Studio of Slovenia to its network of dealers.

"We are very happy to have KSL Studio on board," says sales director Lionel Garraud. "Eastern Europe is a very exciting market at the moment and we need someone of the calibre of KSL to handle the growing demand for our products in Slovenia."

The appointment was finalised with some in-house training for the KSL Studio sales team at the Robert Juliat headquarters in Fresnoy-en-Thelle.

RJ product manager, Ludwig Lepage, provided two intensive days of training on all Robert Juliat products, including theatre and architectural spotlights, profile spots, followspots and the RJ dimmer range. Ludovic Machin and Sylvie Durosoy then concluded with comprehensive training in Robert Juliat's after-sales support.

The KSL Studio team of Dejan Zura, Bostj

Australia / Germany - With a growing requirement for networked audio solutions in Australia's broadcast and live sectors, Optocore has appointed Professional Audio Technology as its exclusive territorial distributor.The experienced Sydney-based operation headed by Patrick Salloch takes up its role with immediate effect.

Speaking of the appointment, Optocore sales and marketing director, Tine Helmle stated, "I feel we have found the perfect partner in Australia. PAT will concentrate its activities on Optocore's core markets, namely broadcast, permanent and live sound. We look forward to an extensive and successful period in this region together with Patrick and his team."

Owned by MD, Salloch and technology director Tony Fitzsimmons, PAT have spent the last 15 years providing Australian and New Zealand customers with technical solutions and enjoy a good reputation in

Switzerland - Allen & Heath's iLive digital mixing system was used to manage two recent music festivals held in Switzerland.

For the second year running, an iLive digital system was used to mix monitors at the Festival de Loup in Corbeyrier. The two day event is a celebration of everything Celtic, with Celtic food, folk tales, dance and music, featuring top Irish band, Grada, and top French band, Blackwater.

A modular iLive system, comprising an iDR10 MixRack and iLive-144 Control Surface, was employed by engineer, Roland Dupertuis, to manage musicians with a range of instruments from electric guitars and bass, to harps, mandolins, bagpipes and accordions.

"I have managed monitors for the festival for several years and decided to use A&H's digital system again this year," says Dupertuis. "As usual, iLive enabled fast set changeovers and was very simple

Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabian events, conferences and exhibitions video production company, TechnoMedia has produced an inspired show for the Effat University 2008 Graduation ceremony in Jeddah, using Christie HD projection and advanced 3D mapping technology as a backdrop. This was the first project in the Middle East to use the company's 3D mapping technology.

"Of course 3D mapping has been around for quite some time, but we have developed our own in-house tools in order to provide this service at the best quality possible," states the company's CEO, Hadi Al Bahra.

He specified two stacked Christie HD 8K projectors to handle the 3D mapping projection onto the stage. The native 1080 HD resolution three-chip DLP 8,000 ANSI lumen digital projector offers a variable contrast ratio of 1600-2000:1.

"The effect was sensational and the two projectors collectively prov

Festival News - Reading and Leeds Festival have denied that headliners Guns N' Roses have pulled out of this month's event. It was after singer Axl Rose's Twitter account was hacked with the message: "all upcoming Guns N' Roses dates are officially cancelled". Festival organisers confirmed that the Reading and Leeds performances and an October arena tour will go ahead. The misleading tweet, posted late on Sunday night also urged fans to return their tickets.

In a statement Festival Republic told BBC's Newsbeat, "(We) are informed by GN'R management that Guns N' Roses have NOT cancelled their performances at Reading & Leeds and that Axl Rose's Twitter account was hacked into and all claims of dates being cancelled are unfounded." That means that the band's recently announced UK arena tour - their first in four years - will still go ahead. The band are l

USA - ETCP Certification is industry accepted proof of what you know - it validates both the employee and the employer when you represent your company with ETCP Certification.

All three ETCP examinations will be given at the October 2010 LDI show in Las Vegas. The entertainment electrician exam is scheduled for Friday, 21 October; the arena rigging exam is to be given the morning of Saturday, 22 October and the theatre rigging exam is scheduled for that afternoon.

Candidates who wish to take multiple exams will receive a discount for the second exam. Interested applicants must submit their application, along with supporting materials and fee, to the ETCP office no later than 30 September.

Candidate information, including eligibility requirements and applications, is available on the ETCP website.

(Jim Evans)

Germany / UK - Optocore has responded to market demand for multi-format signal transfer by developing a new AES3 (AES/EBU) I/O card for its X6R 16-channel converters.

The new card provides 16 AES channels, with the ability to change the inputs or outputs in groups of eight. Complementing the existing Mic/Line conversion cards, the AES3 offers a number of new device options, providing flexibility way beyond the 64 AES/EBU channels offered by its primary DD32E network device.

The user-configurable architecture will "bring huge benefits to the pro audio community". For example devices equipped with an AES3 Card and an eight-channel analogue converter card will allow the user to decide whether he wants to use 16 AES channels (I/O switchable in groups of eight) or use the eight analogue channels combined with eight AES3 channels.

Optocore support engineer, Christian Pö

UK - The Projection Studio, Ross Ashton's London- based large format projection practice has designed and produced an eye-catching array of massive images appearing on the walls of Edinburgh Castle, forming an integral element of the visuals for the 2010 Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo.

This year sees the diamond (60 years) anniversary of the spectacle, featuring over 1000 performers from this year's lead service, the Army, combined with a host of international talents, all choreographed in a lively and energetic mix of music, song, dance and drama, produced by Major General Euan Loudon.

Ross Ashton has been involved with the Tattoo for the last five years as the projection artist. This year he has just signed up a new three-year contract to produce the projections on the backdrop of the Castle, juxtaposed against all the action taking place on the Esplanade below.

"It'

UK - The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama has announced a new partnership between the College and event production company Production 78 to deliver the MA in Event Production course at the College. The partnership follows their successful collaboration at the recent Royal Gala event at Buckingham Palace.

Starting in February next year, this course will combine the industry know-how of a highly successful events management company, with the academic pedigree of the College's specialist staff.

Head of stage management, David Roxburgh said, "This is the first course of its kind available within a drama school environment. We're thrilled with this collaboration which gives our new course a genuine and targeted industry focus, allowing students valuable practical experience throughout the duration of their studies."

"We're delighted that there is finally a cour

UK - Martin Audio will give a UK exhibition debut to its MLA Multicellular Loudspeaker Array at this PLASA 2010 (stand 1-F4).

The show comes at the end of a busytwo months which has seen the MLA system at work on the highly successful Fettes Brot tour (including the 15,000-seat Lanxess Arena in Cologne); debut in London at the month-long iTunes Festivalat the Roundhouse and now Stateside, on tour with Grammy Award winning country artists, The Zac Brown Band.

Martin Audio R&D director Jason Baird comments, "Our primary aim with MLA was to take the guesswork out of daily system design and enable the engineer's mix to be delivered throughout an audience with precision, consistency and repeatability."

"Based on the amazingly consistent results we experienced during the system's German tour debut, and now with the Zac Brown Band tour in the US, we are even m

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