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UK - Central Presentations (CPL), West Midlands and Bristol, UK, based AV rental specialist co-ordinated and supplied a full technical production package encompassing video, lighting & sound for the Overkill stage at the 2011 Glade Festival.

The completely sold out two-day event returned to the summer festival calendar in a new location, Houghton Hall near Kings Lynn, Norfolk.

Overkill at Glade 2011 was project managed for CPL by Nick Diacre from the Bristol office. It is the second year that CPL has supplied the complete stage production package to Overkill and the fifth year that Diacre has been involved. Performers inc;luded Eskimo, African Hitech, The DJ Producer, Ed Rush, MachineDrum, Jacky Murda, 2 Bad Mice and many others.

The venue was a 20m dome from Gaia Nova, which

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UK - Rental company White Light has recently added 50 Martin Professional MAC III series fixtures to their extensive inventory of Martin Professional lighting gear. The new purchase includes both MAC III Profile and MAC III Performance fixtures, Martin's leading 1500 watt, high-output profile moving heads.

Hire & Technical Director at White Light, Dave Isherwood, comments, "The MAC III has a great feature set that includes superior optics and excellent colour mixing and is amazingly quiet considering its high level of intensity. We're thrilled to have them as part of our inventory and have already had them out on key local events."

(Jim Evans)

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Italy / Germany - LDR's Fabiano Besio announced during Showtech in Berlin that he has renewed the exclusive distribution for Germany with LTH.

"We have been dealing with LTH for more than 10 years and every time I'm pleased to renew our distribution agreement," says Besio. "Every year is a new challenge ,with new targets and the LTH team is always ahead my expectations.

"After having consolidated our position as one of the leading theatre manufacturers ," continues Besio, " we have decided to focus our attention on the architectural market and as a consequence of our common effort more than 200 pieces of 150W CDM discharge Cyclorama , LDR Rima 150w, have been used for lighting the stands of the Siemes group of companies in all the most important exhibitions around Germany . A special thanks should go to Motion Light (LTH agent) for assisting LTH.&

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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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Europe - Stageco created the bespoke stage that supports Take That's record-breaking UK and European Progress tour that runs through until 29 July, 2011.

Stageco's project director Dirk de Decker planned the custom built stage in consultation with the tour production manager Chris Vaughan, show designer Es Devlin and technical designer Malcolm Birkett.

Initial sketches for the stage were designed in October 2010 and final sign-off was only given in January, which left a very short time scale to create the materials for a show of this size. While Stageco's designs barely changed, the technical production and scenic elements continued to evolve and final information regarding weight loadings was provided with a short timescale, so Stageco created a structure with plenty of headroom in regards to its tolerances.

The main stage system was framed by a giant 'Big Man', who

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World - With a production valued at over US$25m, Kylie's Aphrodite-Les Folies Tour 2011 features over 1m moving parts, including 30 high impact water jets, rain curtains, fountains and nearly 600 light sources. The bespoke stage, alone costing over $10m, is one of the most technically advanced, complex and precision stage ever created for an arena tour.

Lighting for the show, designed by Nick Whitehouse with Steven Douglas touring as lighting director, relies heavily on Vari*Lite fixtures - 84 x VL3500 Wash, 84 x VL3000 Spot, four VL3500 FX and 30 x VL500.

"With the variety of lenses that we are using - both internal and clear external - we can get everything from two VL3500 Wash fixtures covering the whole stage to really narrow pin spots," remarked Steven Douglas. "The colours are also so rich. It's pretty much the same with the VL 3000 which both Nick

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UK - SGM's latest LED lighting effect has made its world debut in the iconic Playboy Club London.

The venue, featuring contemporary casino, The Dining Room restaurant, bars and cocktail lounge has been reopened on two floors in Mayfair's Old Park Lane - 30 years after it closed - and now joins the portfolio of London Clubs International in a partnership with Playboy Enterprises International.

It is in The Cottontail Lounge, where the legendary playboy bunnies administer table service to their premium weekend guests, that two 5m diameter SGM LED ceiling starbursts, each comprising 866 tiny 34mm white LED balls, change the atmosphere by dramatically colour washing the venue through the spectrum of the rainbow. This is accompanied by a vertical SGM LED curtain at the rear, the reflection of which adds further depth and dimension to the space.

In total just under 2500 balls have

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UK - SSE Audio Group continues to invest in Yamaha digital mixing consoles, adding a further five PM5D-RHs to its hire inventory in anticipation of the summer festival season.

Last year, SSE used digital systems exclusively for monitors for the first time at many of the UK's top festivals. PM5D-RH consoles were deployed at the monitor positions of Download, High Voltage, Lovebox, Oxegen, Global Gathering, T4 On the Beach, Field Day, Summer Sundae and at both V Festival sites.

So successful was the change that SSE Hire is doing the same this year and has invested in five additional PM5D-RHs, bringing SSE's total inventory to 10, plus several rackmount DSP5Ds.

"The all-digital setups were a real success story last year," says SSE sales manager Alex Penn. "It was an easy decision to invest in further PM5D-RHs as our festival and touring commitments grow ever bigg

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Slovenia - KSL Studio, Robert Juliat's Slovenian distributor, has supplied 40 Robert Juliat 614SX 1200W tungsten profile spots to the National Theatre Nova Gorica in Slovenia, where they will be the main workhorses for the theatre's varied programme.

One of the youngest professional theatres in Slovenia, the National Theatre Nova Gorica has a repertoire of contemporary and classical plays and stages a total of six premieres per season, in addition to theatre and dance summer workshops.

"We proposed the Robert Juliat profiles to the theatre which was looking to update its stock of front of house profiles," says KSL's general manager, Bostjan Konic. "The technical staff tried them on site and agreed that they were the best product on offer."

All of the theatre's front of house profile spots have now been replaced by the Robert Juliat zoom fixtures.

"

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UK - The Royal Ballet recently staged Romeo and Juliet for an audience of 12,000 - not at their home venue at Covent Garden, but at London's vast O2 arena. The bold spatial experiment was a great success. And behind the scenes of the complex production was an ETC Eos lighting control system.

The Royal Opera House bought Eos desks for their house performances in 2008, but needed additional desks to take the Royal Ballet company to The O2. While PRG (Production Resource Group) was called in to provide lighting and rigging rental equipment, they needed additional desks to supplement their stocks, which were out on long term productions. So they went direct to ETC in London, who were more than happy to help out for the week long run of rehearsals and shows.

Following several days of testing and demonstrations PRG provided a lighting specification based upon a lighting desig

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Argentina / Peru - Penn-Elcom is expanding its Latin American operations with the inauguration of two new operations - in Argentina and Peru - bringing its number of Latin American offices to five.

This is part of a planned expansion strategy to have Penn-Elcom sales and distribution outlets in all of the major South American markets, and also in direct response to an increased demand for its products and services in these territories, says the company.

Both of the new sales offices have showroom and warehousing facilities offering a full range of Penn-Elcom products including flight case, racking and loudspeaker hardware, accessories and solutions to the professional audio industry, plus selected complimentary lines, including Fane speakers and Amphenol & Neutrik connectors.

Penn Elcom Argentina is located in Buenos Aires. The office is headed by Adriana Gallo and Diego Sot

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USA - For more than a decade, the Chesapeake Inn in Chesapeake City, Maryland, has been a favourite spot for celebrating weddings, graduations and other memorable events, its breath-taking, windswept views of the Bay a backdrop for good food, good friends and good times. But the Inn's waterfront location presented an on-going challenge to their ability to be good neighbours, with the sound reflecting off the water resulting in some complaints from homes in the area.

The multi-room facility includes an outdoor deck and Tiki Bar, both of which are quite popular during warmer months. But as design consultant Mike Rapp of Bear, DE-based Sound Solutions explains, sonic issues arose even with many of the more reserved parties.

"For the most part, they only had smaller two and three piece combos playing outside, while the larger and louder bands played indoors, with the music pi

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UK - Mike & The Mechanics played London's Royal Albert Hall to launch their 2011 Hit The Road tour. Featuring a new line-up which includes Andrew Roachford, the tour coincides with the release of their first album in six years entitled The Road.

Concert production for the tour is being handled by Britannia Row Productions who deployed an Outline GTO-based system for the Royal Albert Hall, the second outing for the Italian manufacturer's new flagship technology in the venue.

The main system comprised L&R hangs of 12 GTO elements, with three Outline Mantas under-hung from each array plus three along the stage lip to cover the near-field. Side-hangs of 13 Outline Butterfly elements covered the bleachers while an under-stage array of Outline Subtech218 subwoofers provided low frequency reinforcement.

Britannia Row's Bryan Grant comments, "This venue is not the

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Asia - This summer Green Hippo is focusing on expanding their Asian market share with various Green Hippo staff visiting old and new customers across the region.

Green Hippo's strategy includes sales manager Samantha Bailey spending time in Xian doing an intensive course in Mandarin before attending PALME Beijing with sales and marketing director James Heron back in May. Bailey comments, "One of the key issues we have found dealing with China is the language barrier. Learning to speak Mandarin, whilst certainly challenging, will reap long term benefits for the company and result in closer ties with customers in this region."

After a successful show, James Heron went on to conduct seminars with Chinese distributor Kupo and attended several key client meetings in Beijing and Shanghai.

Next month focuses on PALME Singapore where Green Hippo will be present at Broadcas

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USA / Canada - Meyer Sound reports that it has been named the Official Sound Reinforcement Sponsor of the Montréal International Jazz Festival in cooperation with Montréal-based Solotech, which will supply Meyer Sound's professional audio systems exclusively throughout the festival.

"It's great to collaborate with Meyer Sound and Solotech, both forward-thinking companies whose ability to adjust to their client's needs is in their DNA," says André Ménard, artistic director of the Montréal International Jazz Festival.

A longtime partner with Meyer Sound since 1992, Solotech has supplied Meyer Sound loudspeaker systems for entertainment and music icons that include Céline Dion, Michael Bublé, Leonard Cohen, Cirque du Soleil, and more. While Solotech has provided Meyer Sound equipment for the Montréal International

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India - This year, Martin Professional showcased products at the PALM Expo for the first time. Held from 2-4 June at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in suburban Mumbai, the exhibition, now in its eleventh year, is an important step in increasing Martin Professional visibility in the region, says the company.

Abhishek Guha, Martin's country manager in India, commented on the show, "Clients were extremely happy to get their first look at the Martin Professional line of lighting and video displays. The Martin booth featured a simple design that was optimal for showing the individual performance and effect of each product very nicely. We stayed busy and were very happy with the response."

Key products on display included the LC Series of LED panels, MAC 101, MAC 350 Entour, MAC 250 Beam, MAC III Performance, MAC 301 Wash, M1 lighting console, Maxedia media server, Ether2DMX

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Sweden - Late May saw Swedish truck body manufacturer SKAB Group treat its employees and their families to a remarkable company party. With DiGiCo SD8 and SD8-24 consoles mixing the performances, the party went with a swing, not to mention some heads-down boogie.

Falkenberg-based Hire Sound Sweden was appointed by event management company 2e Group to provide sound reinforcement for the party, which took place in Falkenberg's Falkenhalle. The event was for 550 SKAB employees and their families, celebrating the fact that the various parts of the group have totalled 100 years in business.

"The plan was to put on a really grand show," says Hire Sound Sweden's Tobias Larsson. "In total over 100 professionals worked to realise SKAB's vision - to create the greatest corporate party ever."

The entertainment was shrouded in secrecy right up until the moment that e

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UK - A.C. Entertainment Technologies' audio division has supplied a high performance new Meyer sound system to Lancaster University.

The fully portable PA is based in the new environmentally friendly Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA) building, a £10m development that now houses all the university's arts related courses including theatre, music, film, art, theatre, visual and design studies - which were previously dispersed around various areas of the campus.

The supply was co-ordinated by A.C. Audio's sales manager, Peter Butler - who is based at the company's Leeds office - and the university's music technology officer, Dr Rosemary Fitzgerald. It was specified by senior lecturer and head of the music department Takayuki Rai, who is also a prolific composer, a highly respected electroacoustic specialist and talented performer working with interactive c

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UK - LD Systems has introduced the BM1 boundary-layer microphone, an electret condenser microphone with a hemispherical directional characteristic. Designed for the micing of upright and grand pianos on stage or in the studio, additional applications include conferencing technology, micing of roundtable discussions and theatrical performances.

According to Andrew Richardson, managing director of Adam Hall UK, "The BM1 boundary-layer microphone is a rugged unit that can be used for conferencing applications as well as traditional audio scenarios."

(Jim Evans)

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UK - Since winning The X Factor in 2008, Alexandra Burke has established herself as part of the British pop scene, with her brand of high-energy dance routines and up-tempo songs. She has now embarked on her first UK tour, All Night Long, taking in such venues as Hammersmith and Manchester Apollo, Brighton Centre and Cardiff Arena. Sennheiser microphones and IEMs have become an integral part of her touring rig.

Baggy has been performing monitor engineer duties for the chanteuse since her emergence from the television talent series and explains why her Sennheiser equipment - which includes SKM 5200 with an MD 5235 capsule as her main vocal mic, as well as wired microphones such as e901 and e 904s for drums and e906s for guitars, with the band and Alexandra also using ew 300 IEMs - has become such an important element for her shows.

"Sennheiser has been workin

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Denmark - When the TietgenSkolen school in Odense began its search for a new large-scale media display solution, dnp partners, Audio-Visuelt Centrum, Denmark recommended dnp's Supernova Infinity optical front projection screens to the architect who was leading the search.

Morten Rasmussen, key account manager at Audio-Visuelt Centrum (AVC), explains, "The new screens were intended mainly for displaying computer presentations and TV programmes. A traditional fixed-frame screen was one option they considered, but the architect objected to the blackout blinds this would require. A better solution was therefore needed."

Destined for use in a newly built amphitheatre/stage on the school's site, the main challenge was finding a screen that would enable quality viewing in this brightly lit area.

Morten Rasmussen continues, "From experience, we knew that dnp's Superno

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Conference Cancelled - The In The City music conference, set up by the late music impresario Tony Wilson in Manchester almost two decades ago, will not go ahead this year. The event was founded by the Factory Records supremo and partner Yvette Livesey as a music industry symposium and a platform for the best new bands. Oasis and Coldplay are among the acts that got exposure there while unsigned. Ms Livesey told the BBC she was taking a year off to get married and start a family, but pledged it would return in 2012.

Reunion Blues - Paul Simon has told Sky News he hopes to be re-united on stage with Art Garfunkel for a final farewell tour. The singer said he would "like to sing with him one last time and maybe do 10 or 15 shows and then say goodbye". However, the reunion may not happen immediately as Garfunkel has been suffering from vocal chord pare

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