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UK - Shaka Zulu, the African themed restaurant and late night venue in Camden's Stables Market, North London, opened its doors this summer.

The venue, costing an estimated £5.5m, is spread over two floors occupying approximately 27,000sq.ft and features hand carved exotic wood walls, elaborate furniture and dominating statues - both over the main entrance and within the premises itself.

Shaka Zulu is a high profile, large scale project, some three years in the making; proprietor Roger Payne turned to long term supplier Carl Broadhurst and his company CTS Productions to provide the audible heart of the venue.

"For such a high profile venue, Martin Audio is always one of my personal first choices. Our past experience with this leading brand has been highly successful

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UK - The flagship Oxford Circus Topshop store has added a Topman trading floor at the top of the building. Former Radio 1 DJ, Bruno Brookes has provided an end-to-end concept for content and sound reinforcement via his broadcast firm Immedia, making this a blueprint for future installations in other stores.

The Harman Pro solution chosen by Immedia will eventually utilise more than 500 JBL Control 47CT and Control 24CT Micro transformer ceiling speakers and Control 28T surface mount enclosures distributed throughout the five trading floors. These are driven by Crown CTs and CDi series amplifiers, with a professing and routing network constructed around Soundweb DSP devices.

The new system gives the primary stations and concession areas the ability to employ local volume control and source select, and the store will be able to broadcast pre-recorded message announcements overla

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USA - A big date on Hollywood calendars each year is the Teen Choice Awards which honours the year's biggest achievements in music, movies, sports, television, fashion and more, as voted by teens.

This year's ceremony was held on 8 August at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles and aired the following day on the Fox Network. Lighting design veteran Tom Kenny created animated looks to match the show's youthful energy using Martin's LC Series LED panels for backdrop graphics, as well as Martin Atomic 3000 strobes and MAC 2000 Wash XB moving heads.

"All in all, the clarity and colour of the LC panels impressed us all and their ease to erect was fabulous," he stated. "I was very happy with the Atomic strobes and 2000 Wash XB's for the look [set designer and art director] Steve Bass and Kristen Merlino and I achieved." Lighting vendor for the event was

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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 - Neumann is well-known in the audio industry for its top-of-the-range microphones. Neumann has also been a pioneer in the audio industry for over 80 years with a long history of world-class products - from mixing consoles and disc cutting lathes, to more recent innovations in digital technology with the Solution-D system. Wolfgang Fraissinet, president of marketing/sales at Neumann Berlin, comments, "Neumann is excited to introduce its latest innovation, the KH 120, representing the first product in the new line of Neumann Studio Monitors."

The KH 120 studio monitor is designed for use as a near-field loudspeaker or as a rear loudspeaker in larger multi-channel systems. The KH 120 represents the latest in acoustic and electronic simulation and measurement technologies to ensure the most accurate sound reproduction possible, says the company.

It has a Mathema

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Denmark - Martin Professional customer care coordinator, Tina Melholt, is celebrating 25 years with the company. Melholt, who ranks as the longest serving employee at the Danish-based lighting manufacturer, started in 1985 when Martin was called dp electronic A/S and produced only amplifiers and a smoke machine.

"Twenty-five years is a long time and obviously there has been a lot of growth and a lot of changes," she notes. "I remember our first exhibition, which was in London. Our stand was so small we could hardly fit two people in it."

Melholt started as an assistant in bookkeeping before moving into purchasing and eventually customer service. She began at the company 10 years before even the milestone MAC 500 and MAC 600 were launched, and two years before the company name was changed to Martin Professional.

"You don't stay at a company so long if

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UAE - Roland Systems Group (RSG), a member of the Roland Corporation Group, has appointed Nicolas Kyvernitis Electronics Enterprises (NMK) as the exclusive distributor for supplying its Roland Professional audio and video product line to UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman.

NMK headquarters are located in Dubai and the company has been operating in the market for 26 years already, since they started in 1984 focusing on the audio, video and lighting industries. NMK began in Sharjah (UAE) as a small company and during its years of operation has become a leading distributor of professional audio, video and lighting products in the Middle East

The agreement was taken after the recent visit which the president & CEO of Roland systems Group EMEA, Paulo Caius to NMK in Dubai.

"NMK are looking forward to introducing Roland audio and video products across the region," comm

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UK - PLASA 2010 closed on a high, with preliminary visitor figures set to show an increase over 2009 and strong international engagement from across the world. Exhibitors across all the show's sectors enthused about the quality of business leads and relished the show's vibrant atmosphere. The event, which filled London's Earls Court 1 and 2, drew over 12,000 visitors, while the international attendance continued to be strong with nearly 30% of visitors attending from 99 countries worldwide.

Show director Nicola Rowland commented: "The universally positive feedback and the strong visitor figures would be satisfying under any circumstances, but in the current economic climate it's a strong result for our exhibitors and for the show itself - it underlines just how important PLASA remains in the international events calendar.

"Numbers alone were only part of the story,&q

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USA - J. R. Clancy has been approved to become an official Training Provider in rigging, as designated by the Entertainment Technician Certification Programme.

J. R. Clancy offers a training programme that can assist ETCP Technicians in acquiring ETCP Renewal Credits towards recertification. Rigging professionals who take courses offered by J. R. Clancy earn one renewal credit per hour of instruction. The Clancy programme began with one course; now, as an ETCP Training Provider, Clancy has expanded its programme with multiple courses. Those interested in taking an industry certification examination may find these courses helpful in preparation.

Candidates who wish to sit for an ETCP examination must meet eligibility requirements. A total of 30 credits are required to qualify for the certification exam, with points awarded for work experience and college-level degrees earned.

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UK - As part of Hawthorn's personal development programme Nick Key and Derek Wilson have both attained the National Rigging Certificate (NRC) Level 3 for the operation and supervision of rigging operations.

In 2007 the Professional Lighting and Sound Association (PLASA) introduced the National Rigging Certificate to formalise an assessment of competency in the rigging sector of the entertainment industry.

The NRC Level 3 standard is currently the highest recognised measurement of competency for rigging in the entertainment industry and reinforces the company's commitment to maintaining high levels of competency, service and safety.

Also part of Hawthorn's ongoing pledge to training and development, they supported the first ever PLASA International Rigging Conference which took place alongside this year's PLASA 2010 Show.

(Jim Evans)

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Lennon Remembered - Celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of John Lennon's birth will include a benefit concert in New York. Among the musicians slated to pay tribute to the former Beatle at the 12 November concert at New York's Beacon Theatre are Jackson Browne, Patti Smith, Cyndi Lauper, Aimee Mann and Shelby Lynne. The concert is one of several events and parties being held in New York and around the world to honour what would have been Lennon's 70th birthday on 9 October. Proceeds from the concert will be donated to the Playing for Change Foundation, a charity which promotes peace through music and builds music schools in the developing world.

Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, is expected to mark the anniversary day in Iceland, where she will light the Imagine Peace Tower memorial located on the island of Vioey, near Reykjavik. Ono's We Are Plastic Ono Band has also planned trib

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UK - The White Light Zone at PLASA 2010 - hosting the many companies for which White Light is the exclusive UK distributor - featured two products which were winners of the 2010 PLASA Awards for Innovation, and a third that was specially commended by the awards judges.

Launched at the show and an award winner was Coemar's Reflection FullSpectrum, a new design of LED washlight that offers an interchangeable LED light source that directs light from a configuration of LEDs onto a parabolic reflector. This optical design eliminates problems common in other LED fixtures, including visible RGB dots and multi-coloured shadows; it also allows the light source to be moved relative to the reflector, giving a smooth zoom from 18-37°. The fixture is available in Full Spectrum RGB colour-mixing and VariWhite variable white versions.

Introduced earlier in the year but winning an award o

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UK - Goboland GoboSlides made from slide film by Goboland's' Wyatt Enever featured on the award-winning Robert Juliat Aledin demonstrated at PLASA 2010.

"By using slide film, the image quality is heightened to truly photographic proportions," explains Enever. "Blacks are truly black and opaque and the image quality is as sharp with no pixellation and true colour rendition.

"The colours and the substrate are resistant to heat degradation to such an extent that we have not yet managed to ascertain their full life despite extensive testing. All we can say at this stage are that they are extremely long-lasting in Aledin's cool gate! The cost savings for the end user are tremendous, without having to compromise on image quality."

Enever has specialised in the production of high quality projection slides for over 30 years and this service is now available

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Germany - Optocore has announced a new software release, which it says will meet one of the most frequently requested control enhancements. With new Multiple Emulation Mode (MEM) software, up to four mixing consoles will be able to control Optocore analogue devices, plus an unlimited number of computers.

"In its simplest form, Multiple Emulation Mode allows our users to have the PC connected for matrixing and system diagnostics, while the consoles control the gain of Optocore's microphone preamps," states Optocore sales and marketing director, Tine Helmle. "In more advanced set-ups multiple consoles can control the gain of networked preamps - even if these are different brands, operating in parallel."

However, the biggest benefit comes when using Optocore's Dual-Mic preamps, where users can have up to four individually-controlled preamps for a single microp

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UK - As London Fashion Week draws to a close and makes way for London Fashion Weekend, Point Source Productions continues its involvement with this high profile event.

After the success of last year's collaboration, Point Source Productions, in conjunction with Fine Art Lighting, has supplied lighting solutions to producers Blonstein & Associates for all exhibition spaces during London Fashion Week.

This Wednesday sees a quickfire turnaround as Point Source Productions helps transform the exhibitor stands of London Fashion Week into the sales booths of London Fashion Weekend, providing a total relight for over 100 exhibitors before it opens to the public on 23 September.

Brian Jones of Blonstein & Associates reports, "Point Source's calm attention to detail in the maelstrom of the designer load-in is a really important part of the production as a whole. They excel at ge

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UK - Orbital Sound has supplied Bristol-based PA rental company Amber Audio with two Digidesign SC48 Venue digital consoles, as well as a d&b audiotechnik Q1 line array, complete with J-SUB and B4-SUB cardioid subs - winner of a PLASA 2010 Innovation Award.

Amber Audio wanted to expand its hire stock to cope with an increasing workload, and the company's Alan Burgess selected Orbital after considering a range of suppliers, following advice on suitable line-arrays and digital consoles that would meet its criteria for rider-friendly brands. Since receiving the new systems, Amber has deployed them for a number of projects including Swindon Invincible 2010 - Battle of the Bowl, the South West's annual dance music festival.

Alan Burgess comments: "We have had d&b audiotechnik in our inventory for around 10 years, and have always found them to be a good investment. In fa

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UK - Adlib Audio's festival run included supplying the NME/Radio 1 Stages at both sites for the Reading & Leeds Festivals. The brief for these tented venues included the provision of sound for outdoor areas left, right and to the back of the tents as well as the standard system inside. Adlib sent a crew of six to each site, with Marc Peers crew-chiefing Leeds and James Neale in Reading.

The PA systems were near identical for both sites, allowing the line-ups to flip-flop between locations, teamwork between Adlib's two crews - who exchanged show files, notes, patch and settings information, right down to the mic lists - enabled all the artists' second nights to "run like clockwork". It also ensured they enjoyed complete continuity in sound and mixing conditions for both performances.

With a normal set up inside and three large video screens outside the tent (one eithe

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China / Norway - In one of the largest single implementations of its technology yet seen anywhere in the world, Norway's projectiondesign has supplied some 80 of its F32 series DLP projectors for use in the French Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010.

The task of implementing the AV systems at the Pavilion fell to the Paris office of ETC, which has specialised in the design and automation of large-scale image projection since its formation in 1981. ETC's joint project managers David Baillot and Nicolas Paineau worked on-site to ensure the smooth installation of the AV systems after the company was awarded the tender to supply and operate the multimedia equipment by the Pavilion's state-backed organizing body COFRES. The project was designed by noted French architect, Jacques Ferrier.

"At this expo, the projectors are arranged in pairs or in fours, depending on the siz

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USA - Charismatic Brazilian pop star and Latin Grammy Award-winner Ivete Sangalo kicked off a string of US dates at Miami's American Airlines Arena on 28 August. The artist, who performed beneath a Beachsound-supplied rig of Martin MAC luminaires and backdrop Martin LC Series LED screen, is one of the most popular Brazilian singers, having sold over 12m albums worldwide.

Full service production company Beachsound of South Florida provided a full turn-key package that included lighting, LED video and imaging, audio and labour.

Beachsound, celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, is a Martin dealer with an impressive inventory of entertainment production gear. No stranger to big time live performance, they have supplied big shows for artists like Gloria Estefan, Marc Anthony, James Blunt, Paulina Rubio and many others.

"When we got the call to do the first concert in t

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UK PLASA 2010 Show was again a major success for MA Lighting and its co-exhibitors Major and Rainbow Colour Changers. The new grandMA2 software release 2.0, the MA VPU (Video Processing Unit) and the whole networking technology of MA Lighting, including the MA NPU (Network Processing Unit) achieved much praise, says the company.

MA Lighting's managing director Michael Althaus commented: "We received a massive interest in grandMA2 especially from theatres in the UK. They do in particular benefit from the latest grandMA2 software release 2.0 and were interested to find out themselves, why a remarkable number of theatres, among them the Royal Shakespeare Company opted for these future oriented control system.

"In recent years, MA Lighting has collected extensive information from the theatre market and the whole product design of the grandMA2 was heavily influenced by th

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UK - Robe lighting enjoyed "an amazing PLASA 2010 exhibition" in London, launching nine environmentally friendly products and a major green initiative - Think of the Future - Consider Nature; designing an ecospheric style booth; and staging The Robe Party, at the Cafe de Paris in central London on the Sunday night.

"I think it was probably our best PLASA to date in terms of positive energy, quality of visitors and interest shown in the new products," says MD Josef Valchar. "This really confirms that our understanding of current market demands and our R&D is going in the right direction."

Robe's sales director Harry Von Den Stemmen adds: "Visitors were absolutely the target market. Reactions were generally very good and the booth was very busy on all days. The 'green' theme and design was a big hit and tapped into a contemporary nerve.&

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UK - ETC has reported a positive response to its new marketing theme, Evolving Light, which was launched at this year's PLASA Show. Two new products were seen on the stand: the Source Four HID Zoom eX outdoor luminaire; and Selador Pearl, the latest addition to the Selador range of LED fixtures.

The Zoom eX, which is set to ship in the first quarter of 2011, is IP65 rated for exterior lighting use and is designed for gobo/pattern projection and tight shutter cuts on specific structures or architectural details. The forward portion of the housing removes completely for beam sizing, focus, gobo insertion and shutter adjustments, while the removable housing is designed to hang conveniently on the yoke, freeing both hands for focus.

The Selador Pearl LED fixture provides an efficient tool for video and event production. Its array of white LEDs provides adjustment between 32

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